OBSIDIAN TIDE – THE GRAND CRESCENDO

(Andy Synn rides the waves of Prog-Metal magic with the upcoming new album from Obsidian Tide)

Earlier this year – and several times since – I’ve stated that 2023 has been, for me at least, a very Prog-heavy year. And that’s before I was even aware that Obsidian Tide had a new album coming!

If you’re not familiar with the band you might want to start by checking out our review of their debut album, as not only is it well worth listening to in its own right it also helps provide some extra insight and added context into how much they’ve developed – both instrumentally and artistically – since then.

There’s little to no question, of course, that The Grand Crescendo is even better than its predecessor (which itself was one of the most pleasant, and praiseworthy, surprises of 2019) but just saying that isn’t really enough to count as a proper review, so I should probably wrap up this increasingly-rambling intro and get stuck into what the album actually sounds like!

Taken in its totality The Grand Crescendo is an undeniably demanding, yet rewarding, listen, spanning as it does an impressive sixty-two-and-a-half minutes and incorporating influences and elements from a multitude of Metal’s brightest and proggiest minds – including Opeth and Amorphis, Leprous and Novembre, and more besides – along the way.

For all that it demands a good amount of time and attention from its listeners, however, it’s also a surprisingly easy album to get into – testament, I suppose, to the trio’s even more melodic and progressive approach this time around – and while the occasional misstep is probably to be expected in an album of this magnitude (it can sometimes feel as though the group are following in the footwork of their predecessors a little too closely, but the sensation is usually fleeting) the absolutely excellent songwriting underpinning every track ensures that, when all is said and done, Obsidian Tide are still dancing to a tune of their own making.

And what a complex yet compelling tune it is, beginning with the pristine, proggy riffs, lithe, limber bass-lines, and nimble, nuanced drum work of emotive, melody-rich opener “Clandestine Calamities” – which immediately sets the tone, and the bar, for the rest of the album – before moving on into the more metallic strains of “Beyond” (whose punchier, rhythmic riffing is balanced by a series of poignantly calm passages) and the sublime, cinematic slow-burn of “The Invasion on Paradise”.

Some may complain, I suppose, that the increased emphasis on the softer, moodier, and more melodic side of their sound makes The Grand Crescendo an odd fit for a site like ours – especially given that the ratio of clean to harsh vocals has shifted slightly more towards the former this time around (though that doesn’t prevent the latter from playing a prominent, and powerful, role at key points) – but the subtle technicality and prog-powered punch of tracks like “Halo Crvsher” and “The Undying Flames” should be enough to satisfy even the most negative of naysayers.

If you do need some more convincing, however, just wait until you hear the record’s climactic piece de resistance, “The Field of Reeds”, which incorporates all of the album’s best elements – soaring melodies and warm acoustics, taut, riveting riffage and grandiose, progressive songwriting – into a single three-part, thirteen-and-a-half minute masterwork of moody introspection and heartfelt emotion (with the only odd thing about it being the band’s decision to split off part IV into a separate outro track at the very end).

Perhaps the album’s greatest strength, however, is how organic and spontaneous it feels, despite its often outlandishly progressive ambitions. It’s a record written and recorded by three musicians operating pretty much perfectly in sync with one another, one clearly created not to satisfy anyone else’s expectations but purely for the sheer pleasure that comes from the act of creation itself. And that in itself is always something worth celebrating.